


Trying Ain't Succeeding

by sunnyfreeze



Category: Sneaky Pete (TV)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Post-Canon, Post-Finale, Spoilers, but now its just a character study of his different relationships with the different family members, originally this was going to have a plot, six times the bernhardts come talk to marius in nyc after the finale, this show needs more fics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:34:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26260474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunnyfreeze/pseuds/sunnyfreeze
Summary: The Bernhardt clan wants Marius to come back and rejoin the family, but he’s finally discovered guilt and thinks he should stay away, since he's not, actually, family. They have the last word.A man is never more truthful than when he acknowledges himself a liar. – Mark Twain
Comments: 10
Kudos: 12





	Trying Ain't Succeeding

1\. Julia

“You can come back, you know.”

Marius suppresses both a flinch and a sigh as he turns to look at Julia. “I thought you wanted me to stay far, far away from the family? What are you doing here?”

Julia shrugs as she leans against the wall of the probation office. “I didn’t tell them. Who you are.” She waves her hand in his direction and rolls her eyes, “And they miss you.”

“Well, maybe you should tell them.” Marius starts to walk away and, unsurprisingly, Julia follows. He’s been trying to be a good person since California. He’s not great at it, but at least he’s been going to all his probation meetings for the past six months, for all the good that’s now doing him.

“Are you angry with me? Because I’m the one who should be mad at you.”

“I’m not—” Marius stops and turns to her. “Exactly. You’re angry. You asked me to leave. I pulled the whole family into a con; we were lucky to get out with our lives and no charges. I left. So why are you here, now?” He spreads his hands and looks at her, somewhere between exhausted and curious.

She sighs. “Carly doesn’t understand why you left. She keeps asking why you’re not taking her calls.”

“Then just tell her, Julia.”

“She actually likes you, Marius. I don’t want to ruin another thing for her.”

“You’re not ruining anything. What’s there to ruin? I’m not really Cousin Pete. And you have actual Cousin Pete’s number, so just call him up and Carly can like him instead. He would love that.” He turns the corner and huffs a sigh when Julia trails. “I can text it to you if you lost it.”

“Marius.” Julia tugs him to a stop again. “I’m not telling anyone. Just come for a visit.”

“And do what? Get the family in more trouble? Help with a—oh.” Marius nods. “You need help with something.”

“No, we don’t—you know what, fine. Don’t come.” Julia turns away in defeat, before briefly turning back as she walks away to say, “But answer one of Carly’s damn texts once in a while.”

2\. Audrey

When Audrey walks into Marjorie’s bookshop, Marius is not surprised. “Audrey.”

“Marius.”

That surprises him. He blinks. “She told me she wasn’t going to tell anyone.”

“Well, she only told me.” Audrey leans against the bookshelf, holding her giant purse in front of her. “What are you doing here, Marius?”

“Working.” Marius raps the cash register from where he is standing behind Marjorie’s counter. They’re the only two people in the store. “Did you know ex-cons on probation are supposed to have jobs with a stable income, Grandma?” The epithet just slips out automatically.

Audrey rolls her eyes. “Come back to Bridgeport. You can work for us.”

“Why did Julia tell you?”

“You know we’ve lost a lot of the family. I didn’t want to lose any more.”

“And now you know I’m not family.”

Audrey’s calm evaporates in an instant. “Oh, shut up, Marius. After everything we’ve gone through, you’re family now, like it or not. And that means you’re always welcome at the farm.” The words are kind, but her tone is aggressive.

Marius chuckles. “That almost sounds like you’re saying your family is always welcome at the farm. And we both know that’s not true.”

“You know what, Marius? Come, don’t come. But that’s a choice you’re making.” She turns to go.

“I tried to tell you and Otto. In California,” Marius says quietly.

Audrey turns and looks at him, with a rarely seen softness. “I know.”

They look at each other.

“Always welcome, Marius,” she says, and leaves with a tinkle of the bell over the door.

3\. Carly

Marius is scouting marks at the park when someone sits next to him on the bench.

“What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in school?”

“It’s senior skip day.”

Marius eyes her. “So you decided to track me down? Wouldn’t you rather be smoking in a parking lot somewhere to bad music?”

“I can do that any time,” Carly grins at him and Marius chuckles. “So, whatcha doing?”

Marius finally turns towards her fully. “What do you want, Carly?”

“Oh, you know. I just want to know why you wanted so bad to be a part of our family that you pretended to be someone you weren’t, and then suddenly abandoned us.” She smiles, big and fake.

“So she’s telling everyone now.”

“That’s another thing. Why did you tell Julia and not me?”

“I didn’t tell Julia; she found out.”

“How?” Carly asks, genuinely curious. “I was suspicious ages ago but I looked Pete up and it was you.”

“Well, I knew you were suspicious, but I didn’t realize Julia was. It’s easy to fix a problem you know about. It’s what I do. Harder to fix one you don’t.”

“So what problem made you leave us?”

“You know I’m not your real cousin Pete.”

“So?”

“So?” His mouth twists. “What do you guys not get about ‘I’m not your family’?”

“That’s bullshit and you know it.”

“It’s not, Carly! It’s not bullshit. Ev—everything that happened in Bridgeport was bullshit. At first I just needed a safe place to crash and cash collateral to save my brother’s life.” He’s losing his cool. “That’s right, I have my own actual brother. And then I tried to leave Bridgeport, and some very dangerous guys thought I actually was Pete and they threatened to burn down the farm. So I stayed. And a whole bunch of other shit happened. But all I did was lie, and steal from you all, and put you in danger. So I finished. And I left.” By the end of this speech, he’s standing over her, and he’s hissing instead of shouting.

Carly isn’t moved. “You also saved us and kept us safe. A lot. You saved Julia. You bailed out the business. Is that also part of what you do?”

Marius rubs his face and straightens. “Damn it, Carly. Just leave me alone.”

“Fine.” She stands up and pokes him in the chest. “But just remember, Not Cousin Pete, Ohana means family. And family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten.”

__“What?”_ _

__She shrugs. “I was watching _Lilo_ _and_ _Stitch_ with Ellen and Jacob last weekend. The point is: family isn’t always biological. If we’re stuck with Audrey and without our parents, we might as well at least get you too.”__

____He’s watching her walk away, thinking about tailing her to the train station to make sure she gets back safe, when he notices a small lump in his chest pocket. It’s a Connecticut state quarter. “You’re getting better!” he shouts._ _ _ _

____Her only reaction is to flip him off without looking. He trails her to the train._ _ _ _

____ _ _

____4\. Otto_ _ _ _

____Someone is honking obnoxiously outside the store, and Marius would go outside and shut that down, except there’s a customer and he probably shouldn’t leave. He watches the woman browsing the Renaissance section. If he was her, he’d be working with—_ _ _ _

____Another honk interrupts Marius’ thoughts and he remembers that he doesn’t actually care if the customer steals from the shop. When he gets outside, though, instead of an angry cab driver, he sees Otto laying on the horn of Sam’s car._ _ _ _

____“Hey there, kid. Sure took your sweet time coming out of there.”_ _ _ _

____“I…didn’t realize it was for me.”_ _ _ _

____“Yeah, just wanted to come see how you were doing,” Otto says. Sam is visibly uninterested in the conversation. Almost too uninterested._ _ _ _

____“I’m fine.”_ _ _ _

____“Good, good. I heard you were, uh, remind me what your real name is again?”_ _ _ _

____“Marius.”_ _ _ _

____“Marius, right. And that the ginger was actually Pete. I imagine you musta been in a real tough spot to bother pulling that off.”_ _ _ _

____“Uh, yeah. Yeah, I was.”_ _ _ _

____“But you’re doing better now.”_ _ _ _

____“Yes.”_ _ _ _

____Otto smiles. “Alright. Good.” He leans against his cane and moves to get back in the car. Once he’s settled back into his seat, he turns back to Marius, who hasn’t moved an inch since he realized Otto was the person honking. “There’s always enough food for everyone at Sunday breakfast. You don’t even have to warn us you’re coming.”_ _ _ _

____ _ _

____5\. Taylor_ _ _ _

____“Yeah, Eddie, everything’s good.” The bell at the front jingles and Marius looks up. “I gotta go, I’ll talk to you later. Tell Karolina I said hi.” He puts his phone down as Taylor approaches. “I was wondering when you were gonna come by.”_ _ _ _

____“You know they actually forgot to tell me?” Taylor leans forward, arms on the counter. “They were just talking at dinner yesterday, talking about you, and I was so confused, and apparently everyone knew except me.”_ _ _ _

____A grin splits Marius’ face. “No shit, really?”_ _ _ _

____“Yeah, really. Thought you were my own flesh and blood this whole time.”_ _ _ _

____“No wonder you never made detective, Taylor.”_ _ _ _

____Taylor frowns. “Screw you, man. You’re lucky I’m not still a cop.”_ _ _ _

____Marius shrugs. “Eh.”_ _ _ _

____Taylor looks around. “So what’s the deal with this place?”_ _ _ _

____“What do you mean?”_ _ _ _

____“I mean, what are you getting out of working here?”_ _ _ _

____Marius sighs. “A salary. No trouble with my PO.”_ _ _ _

____“That’s lame.”_ _ _ _

____“Well.” Marius shrugs again. It’s less sarcastic, more defeated this time._ _ _ _

____“Okay.” Taylor straightens and punches Marius in the shoulder. “Text me when you’re back in Bridgeport.” He’s out the door before Marius formulates a response._ _ _ _

____ _ _

____6\. Julia Again_ _ _ _

____Marius and Marjorie are drinking and celebrating Marius’ completed probation when Marjorie suddenly announces that she’s done for the night._ _ _ _

____“What? We’ve only been here an hour.”_ _ _ _

____“You’ve got someone else who wants to celebrate with you.” Marjorie nods her head to someone behind Marius._ _ _ _

____“Wh—” he turns and sees Julia. She’s not looking at him as she makes her way through the crowded bar. “You told her where we were?”_ _ _ _

____“I know you want them updated, even if you won’t admit it. She invited herself.”_ _ _ _

____“I—”_ _ _ _

____Marjorie doesn’t stay to listen to Marius’ excuses, she just kisses him on the cheek and slips out._ _ _ _

____Marius and Julia regard each other silently as Julia approaches, sits, and takes a swig of Marjorie’s drink. She makes a face and puts the drink down. “So. You’re truly a free man, now.”_ _ _ _

____There’s a pause as Marius rolls through his rolodex of possible responses, possible reasons she could be here. Finally he answers simply. “Yes.”_ _ _ _

____“Cool. So you can come back to Bridgeport.”_ _ _ _

____“Why did you tell them, Julia?”_ _ _ _

____She raises an eyebrow. “You wanted me to.”_ _ _ _


End file.
